Lap Dog
by FailKitten13
Summary: It didn't take you long to learn that danger was at every corner, and it wasn't long after that that you learned how to protect yourself from it. Unfortunately, not everyone saw you way of dealing with things in a good light. (ZoroXReader, FEM!Reader, Zoro before the Straw Hats era, rated for later chapters.)
1. Chapter 1

Baroque Works? Mr. 3? Candle wax?  
You rubbed your temples, contemplating this predicament you found yourself in. For that matter, you didn't really understand it all that well. Evidently, you'd found out someone's secrets and they had you locked away down here. They kept saying the boss would prefer to kill you, but you never laid eyes on this boss person.  
Your will to survive dictated that you couldn't eat the food they had laid out for you. Really, what were they expecting?  
The bright side to this whole situation was the fact that you were able to meet some pretty interesting characters down there. There was a drag queen ballerina called Mr. 2(he also called himself Bon Clay; it seemed he wasn't too worried about giving out his identity), for instance. That one liked to entertain you whenever it was his turn to add to the pile of untouched food trays(it was pretty rare; you'd only seen him once or twice).  
You could also recall the one who captured you and put you down here in the first place: Mr. 3. He did insist on keeping his codename secret in public, but his strange three-shaped hair always gave it away in spite of his best efforts. You had only seen that one when he threw you down in this godforsaken cell.  
Aside from those two numbered agents, you were mostly fed by millions or billions, as they were often guys liked to try and force the food on you rather rudely, but you still wouldn't eat it.  
Of course, the day came when you were finally ready to be taken out of that dingy cell and brought before the boss man. His partner, Miss All Sunday, was to be your escort for some reason. You couldn't see what all the fuss was about: You weren't that strong even back when you were eating three meals a day. As you were brought to face Mr. 0, you looked more skeleton than human.  
"Welcome back, Miss All Sunday," greeted a gravelly voice as the raven-haired woman walked you into a strange underwater room.  
"Hello, Mr. 0," your escort responded in kind. "I brought you the little rat."  
A large chair in the centre of the room spun around, revealing a huge guy with a scar splitting his face in half. He spoke around a cigar and didn't seem too pleased with either you or Miss All Sunday.  
"That doesn't look like a very good meal for the banana gators," he speculated.  
You shuddered. So the food was your demise of sorts.  
"Apparently, she didn't eat anything the whole time she was down there," Miss All Sunday explained.  
"Smarter than I thought," Mr. 0 commented. "But it didn't matter anyway. She may not taste very good, but banana gators can crush bones."  
"Do you want me to toss her down?" Miss All Sunday volunteered with a small smirk.  
"Go ahead," he said, hitting a button that opened up a trap door. "I don't have any energy to expend on that garbage."  
Before you knew it, you were falling into that hole in the floor. You collided harshly with the marble floor below, enough for your body to bounce up slightly when it hit at first.  
It took you a moment to grow accustomed to the pain wracking your form, but you managed to eventually sit up and come face-to-face with what you assumed to be a banana gator.  
You sighed, reminding yourself it was a dumb animal that was all too easy to trick.  
"Is she gone yet, Miss All Sunday?"  
There was a moment of silence. You stared up at the open trap door, your lack of energy and strength leaving you breathless and your legs wobbly.  
"No. She's still standing," Miss All Sunday replied flatly.  
"What? What is this, some kind of joke?"  
"No joke. She disappeared as it was lunging, and it ran right into a wall. It's out cold now.."  
Soon, you could see Mr. 0's head leaning over the trap door as he tried to validate Miss All Sunday's claim.  
"Stop fooling around down there and die already," he ordered you impatiently.  
"Like I'm going to just give up and die that easily!" you retorted.  
Mr. 0 looked over to his female partner. "Haul her back up here. I have some questions for her."  
Miss All Sunday nodded and threw a rope down, which you didn't hesitate to grab and use to pull yourself up. Your power was as weak as you were at that moment, and you weren't sure if you could use it against the other gators coming to examine their fallen friend.  
You pulled yourself back up to the upper level, freezing until the trap door was completely shut.  
"I can see you are no normal young woman," Mr. 0 observed as you shakily brought yourself to your feet.  
"No...I ate a devil fruit."  
"That much is obvious," he snapped. "The question is: Which one did you eat?"  
Miss All Sunday ushered you forward so that you were uncomfortably close to the crime lord's desk.  
"Did it give you the power of invisibilty? No. Did it up your agility?"  
"...That last one sounds right," you replied.  
"Agility, huh?"  
Mr. 0 smirked.  
"Miss All Sunday, bring this one some food. She's earned it."  
You raised an eyebrow. "You're trying to fatten me up again?"'  
"Not at all. I have a proposition you can't refuse."


	2. Chapter 2

Saved? You didn't want to be saved! You were so close to being promoted, but these idiots weren't listening to you! Why the hell were they saving you?  
"Put me down!" you shouted for the umpteenth time, trying to struggle out of the weird man's grasp.  
"There's no way! We saw what was going to happen to you! We can't just leave you behind like that," he argued.  
"What was going to happen to me," you spat, "was that I was getting a very high honour just then!"  
"Two of those men with you were preparing to stab you in the back," the other man corrected you.  
You supposed it was to be expected after what you did to some of your fellow billions. After all, no one knew you for being the most savory agent.  
"So, why did you strangers save me like that?" you demanded. "What's in it for you?"  
"What's in it for us?" the man carrying you over his shoulder repeated. "Why, we're just doing our duty to protect the weak!"  
"I'm not weak!" you shrieked.  
There wasn't that much proof at the moment, truthfully.  
"You were messing with Baroque Works," he continued, sitting you down behind a large boulder. "I bet you didn't know that!"  
"I did know that! I work for them!"  
"What the hell did you guys do this time?" sighed a new, more mature voice next to you.  
You didn't know there was someone else behind that rock, so you jumped.  
"Jesus Christ, an ambush? Why are you guys trying to take me down? I'm not that important!"  
Yet...  
"We aren't trying to take you down," the man who'd been carrying you huffed. "Like we said, we were saving you!"  
You stood. "I didn't want to be saved!"  
"Johnny, Yosaku," the third man interrupted. "I'm going to ask you guys again: What the hell did you guys do?"  
"Big bro Zoro!" they both shouted.  
That was too dramatic for any circumstance, you were sure.  
"You guys just noticed I was here? Geez."  
"We saved this ungrateful girl from the clutches of death just now!"  
"If she was working for Baroque Works, she deserved what was coming to her. Betraying a bunch of criminals, were you?"  
"I never betrayed anyone!"  
Unless I needed to, your mind finished for you.  
"Who the hell are you people anyway?"  
"I'm Johnny, and this is my bro Yosaku," the man who'd been carrying you introduced, gesturing to the second man.  
You waited a moment.  
"And you, Mr. Mysterious?"  
"Zoro," he replied simply as he stood. "Really, guys, why did you lead her back here? I was taking a break from fighting off Baroque Works agents for a while."  
"So, it was you," you accused, walking over to him to jab a finger into his forehead. "You're that guy who's been cutting down all of our small fry agents! Mr. 0's been preparing to send some Officer Agents after you!"  
"Who cares? I can destroy them just as easily."  
"You won't get a chance to, because I'm here to take you d - "  
You were interrupted when he popped you harshly in the head with the hilt of one of his swords, knocking you down onto your stomach.  
"Don't be stupid, kid. I've beaten far worse that you."  
That sword was unsheathed in an instant and pointed at your face. You looked up at him, hatred burning in your eyes.  
"If you were smart, you'd stay down there until I was long gone, lap dog."  
"Compliments will get you no where, tough guy," you laughed.  
"Big bro, how could you be so heartless?" Johnny cried.  
"She wants to kill me!" Zoro snapped. "And she'll be dead before I let that happen."  
You sighed, going over your options in your head. There was the option to wait until he left, like he said, but that wasn't happening. You could always get back up and try to fight him again, but you knew you didn't stand a chance. You were more of a weasel than a fighter, and without a partner to depend on you were absolutely worthless. The only choice left was to try to join Zoro...or at least Johnny and Yosaku.  
Within that split second, you were ready to turn your back on Baroque Works for good. You were an amazing decision maker.  
"Fine, Zoro," you spat, using his name as though it were a curse word, "what if we struck a deal?"  
"I'm not striking any deals with Baroque works."  
"Then, how about just with me? I quit Baroque Works. I'd rather work for someone with raw skills like you. You've proven how bad the company is at fending against one guy, so I have no use for them anymore."  
Zoro scoffed.  
"Like I'm going to take you up on that after you made it clear how much of a weasel you really are."  
You rolled your eyes at him.  
He couldn't be that smart. Something about him told you he was all brawn and no brain. You just had to find a way to lay that out in the open.  
"If you threatened me into leaving Baroque Works, don't you think it'd be equally easy to threaten me into some sort of...undying loyalty?" you tried, staring questioningly[and hopefully]into his steely grey eyes.  
"And now you're selling yourself out, too," he remarked as if disappointed in you, sheathing his sword. "I really can't stand people like you."  
"Can't you just give me a goddamn chance?" you snapped.  
"Look, kid, I'm not exactly traveling a road that's all safety and rainbows. You're guaranteed to find someone out there who'll scare you even more than I do, and I don't want to think about what you'll do then."  
As he sheathed his sword[as if ending the discussion], you stood and dusted yourself off.  
"Nothing's stopping me from following you."  
"Except that, if you do, I'll cut you down before you can make some kind of lame-ass excuse."  
"If it's so easy for you to overpower me, then why don't you chance it?"  
"Because you aren't worth the time."  
"C'mon, big bro," Johnny finally spoke again, "she has a point."  
"She isn't that powerful," Yosaku pointed out.  
Thank you, you thought.  
"Are you guys really falling for this? Weren't you paying attention to what she just did?"  
"Look, at least let me follow you around for a little while and drop me off somewhere far from Baroque Works?" you offered.  
"Sure is easy to get a compromise out of you," Zoro noted as he turned away from you and began walking.  
"You can come with us," Yosaku told you quietly.  
"Big bro may not approve, but as far as we're concerned you're our honourary big sis [NAME]!" Johnny added.  
"...Thanks, guys," you responded with a sigh.  
You knew you had the approval of these dorks, but the real prize was earning Zoro's trust. Of this you were certain. How you were supposed to do it, you weren't quite so certain.  
You moved past Johnny and Yosaku so that you were walking a little closer to the standoffish swordsman.  
He glanced at you, his expression rather difficult to read.  
"Is there anything I can do to get you to talk to me?"  
He said nothing.  
"You know I refuse to leave you alone until you trust me. You won't get rid of me that easily."  
Zoro glanced at you again.  
"I guess we'll be stuck with each other a long time, then."  
Was that a friendly comment? You weren't sure.  
"I guess so," you replied with a rather triumphant little smirk.


End file.
